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Apple has begun sending out invitations to select media outlets inviting them to a special event on March 17. As illustrated in the invitation, the topic will be iPhone OS 3.0 and a new software development kit (SDK) for the updated operating system; the event will be held on Apple’s campus in Cupertino, CA. The invitation arrives a little over a year after Apple’s 2008 iPhone Software Roadmap event, in which the company outlined plans for the iPhone SDK, the App Store, and previewed Exchange support for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Indonesian carrier Telkomsel will launch the iPhone 3G on March 23, according to a new report. Citing Indonesian cite Ndorokakung, 3G Week reports that there will be up to four national distributors for the handset when it launches, and that there will be a pre-launch event on March 21. Pricing has yet to be determined, but is suggested to be around IDR 10 million, or roughly $840. Telkomsel is Indonesia’s largest GSM provider, and is partially owned by SingTel. [via MDN]

Malaysian carrier Maxis has begun accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 3G, which will launch in the country on March 20. Maxis will offer the handset on a tiered pricing scale, dependent on which plan the customer chooses and the duration of the contract. For users choosing a 12-month contract, the 8GB iPhone will range in price from RM 1900 (roughly $514) to RM 1080 (~$292), while the 16GB model will range from RM 2290 (~$619) to RM 1470 (~$397), based on which plan the user selects. The base i-Value 1 plan, which runs RM 100 (~$27) monthly, offers 333 minutes and 500MB of data, while the top i-Value 4 plan runs RM 375 (~$101) monthly and includes 2500 minutes and 3GB of data. With a 24-month contract, the price range on the 8GB model drops to free—with the i-Value 4 plan—to RM 1510 (~$408) with the i-Value 1 plan. 16GB pricing on a 24-month contract ranges from RM 1890 (~$511) to RM 260 (~$70). Finally, users selecting a Value Plus plan and a six-month contract will pay RM 2540 (~$687) for the 8GB iPhone 3G and RM 2960 (~$801) for the 16GB model, with plans ranging from RM 80 (~$22) to RM 500 (~$135) a month, none of which include free minutes. Maxis will be accepting pre-orders through March 17, and will be holding official launch events on March 20, 21, and 22 at the KL Convention Centre.

Following the publication of our story concerning two iPhone prototypes that were being sold on eBay, both the auction and a YouTube video of the working prototype in action have been pulled at Apple’s request. Responding to a comment request from iLounge, the seller told us that “as many people predicted would happen, Apple has contacted eBay to close the listing.” He also pointed out that a YouTube video he posted of the iPhone’s limited testing operating system had been pulled; when trying to navigate to the video, users are presented with the message “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Apple, Inc.” This marks the second time in the last month that Apple has asked eBay to pull an auction; former Apple employee Mike Evangelist had his auction for a pre-release iPod pulled in late February.

Following an interview last week with Bloomberg in which a key Palm investment partner and board member made disparaging remarks about the iPhone, Palm has filed a form with the SEC formally withdrawing the statements. Roger McNamee, Managing Director & Co-Founder of Elevation Partners, which owns 39% of Palm, and board member of Palm, Inc., said of the iPhone, “our product’s just going to run rings around them on the web. If you want to go to the web, it’s just going to be a million times—well, not a million times—several times faster.” Palm noted in its statement that the Pre is “still under development and it is premature to state the speed at which the device accesses the web or the relative speed of the Palm Pre compared to the smartphone products of competitors.”

Perhaps more noteworthy was McNamee’s claim that “not one” original iPhone purchaser will remain an iPhone user once their contract expires. “You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone,” McNamee said. “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. Think about it—If you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market. Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they’re going to buy.” In its filing, Palm said this statement was “an exaggerated prediction of consumer behavior pattern and is withdrawn.”

An early iPhone prototype has made its way onto eBay, complete with a rough beta version of iPhone OS and a second, non-functional unit. The working prototype is said to be in good cosmetic condition, and interestingly features a matte plastic screen as opposed to the glass screen found in production units. Its serial number is YM649xxxxxx, which the seller claims corresponds to a factory in China, manufactured week 49 of the year 2006, and it runs iPhone OS 03.06.01_G — the iPhone launched running OS 1.0, version 03.11.02_G. The seller claims the phone can make calls, browse the mobile versions of websites, and can receive SMS, but lacks any way to manually type an SMS on the phone. The non-working prototype has a glass screen, a slightly higher serial number, and is described as being in “fair” cosmetic condition, with various scratches. The two units are currently up to $300; it is unknown how long the auction will remain up, following Apple’s recent action to get an early prototype iPod removed from the auction house. [via iFun.de]

Update: The listing is no longer available. It is unclear whether the auction was pulled by eBay or by the seller.

Apple is surprisingly unprepared for the upcoming round of initial App Store developer renewals, according to new reports. Spurred by an Apple Insider report that developers had yet to be offered a way to renew their contracts with Apple, iPhone developer Erica Sadun contacted the Apple Developer Connection in an attempt to renew her paid iPhone developer membership, and was told there was currently no way to do so. “There is no process in place yet to renew it just now,” the ADC representative said. “As soon as a process is in place, you’ll be notified via e-mail or the website. It’s a new program. This program was not yet in place last year, and Apple needs time.” The representative also said that the ADC had been experiencing high call volume over this issue and that there were “many developers in this situation,” while assuring Sadun that Apple will not be removing already-approved applications from the store. Apple announced its iPhone developer program at a special event on March 6, 2008, and began accepting applications from developers shortly thereafter, meaning that the contracts of the first developers accepted into the paid program will be expiring soon, if they haven’t begun expiring already.

The iPhone and App Store helped push the mobile gaming industry to become a $5.4 billion market in 2008, a 20% increase over 2007, according to a new JupiterResearch report. The report states that overall game downloads were flat in the U.S. and Western Europe, while they rose in emerging markets like China and India. Java-based games reportedly saw a steep decline in sales, but were offset by iPhone game downloads. Report author Dr. Windsor Holden said, “The combination of iPhone and the Apple App Store has galvanized the mobile games industry. Apple has provided an innovative device which enables developers to create smooth, compelling, visually attractive games for the mobile users, together with a business model offering a highly competitive revenue share for developers.” The report goes on to predict that more than half of games downloaded by 2012 will be funded by advertising.

The developer behind Cydia, a package installer and manager for jailbroken iPhones and iPod touches, is opening an App Store-like service, according to the Wall Street Journal. Cydia will offer applications not allowed onto the App Store, such as the free Cycorder app, which allows the iPhone to shoot video, and PdaNET, a $29 program that allows the iPhone to function as a cellular modem. Jay Freeman, developer of Cycorder and the Cydia Store, says he decided to launch the service so developers whose work is either outlawed or denied access to the App Store have a way to make money from their efforts. A 27-year-old computer science doctoral student in Santa Barbara, Freeman says he intends to charge developers no more than the commission Apple does for his site’s billing services. Apple recently argued to the U.S. Copyright Office that jailbreaking constitutes copyright infringement and a DMCA violation, and is therefore illegal; Freeman says he has a lawyer lined up in case Apple takes legal action against him. “The overworking goal is to provide choice,” he says. “It’s understandable that [Apple] wants to control things, but it has been very limiting for developers and users.”

Following a move last year to offer its Emmy screeners online, Showtime is letting TV Academy voters view shows on the iPhone and iPod touch. Emmy voters will be able to screen full-length episodes of Showtime series including “Dexter,” “Weeds,” and “United States of Tara” simply by entering a passcode on a website. “It’s just another option for those TV Academy members who want to see product any time and any place,” said Richard Licata, Showtime’s exec VP of corporate communications. Licata said the channel saved “tens of thousands of dollars” last year by offering episodes online, and added that he isn’t concerned about voters viewing shows on the small screen of the iPhone. “I don’t think the creative is compromised in this way. It’s just another avenue for people to explore. They can watch two or three minutes of an episode on an iPhone, and they can at least decide if they like the show.”

Chang Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom, has confirmed that the company is in talks with Apple to bring the iPhone to China. “We are in talks with many handset suppliers, including Apple,” Chang said, adding, “3G users will account for 20 percent of all mobile phone users in China in the next three years.” A previous report from February cited an anonymous Unicom manager as stating that the companies were in discussions over the iPhone. Interestingly, despite earlier reports that Unicom rival China Mobile had broken off talks with Apple due to a disagreement over control fo the App Store, Reuters reports that China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou said that the company would continue to talk to Apple, while declining comment on discussions between Unicom and iPhone maker. Reports of China Mobile and Apple’s iPhone negotiations date back to November 2007, and have reportedly stalled multiple times over various issues.

JP Morgan analysts Jimmy Cheong and Tim Storey suggest that both iPhone clones and large subsidies may be holding back discussions. “iPhone copies (i.e. the Hi-Phone) are available without (users) having to sign long-term contracts,” the analysts said in a note. “iPhone is likely to be highly subsidized and China Unicom may give away large revenue share so earnings upside is possibly limited, in our view. We think this is a reason why China Mobile has refused to sign with Apple to date.”

Apple’s iPhone 3G, fourth-generation iPod nano, and second-generation iPod touch were all given International Design Forum gold awards at the 2009 CeBIT conference, SetteB.IT reports. Among 802 products that were recognized, including the Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic, only 50 products earned gold awards. The products were judged on the basis of design quality, workmanship, choice of materials, degree of innovativeness, environmental compatibility, functionality, ergonomics, visualization of use, safety, brand value / branding and universal design. Notably, the MacBook Air was also the recipient of a gold award.

According to the latest statistics released by Net Applications, the iPhone accounts for roughly two-thirds of all mobile browsing. Apple’s handset is listed as having a 66.61% share of the mobile browsing market, followed by Java ME with 9%, Windows Mobile with 6.91%, and Symbian OS with 6.15%. Interestingly, Google’s Android operating system was equal with Symbian, and has grabbed a 6.15% share of the market since its release in October. Net Applications notes that although Android and Blackberry are rapidly gaining market share, this doesn’t necessarily mean that iPhone use is shrinking, due to the rapid growth of the overall market.

A group of iPhone developers has succeeded in getting Mac OS System 7 to run on the device, and has posted a number of photos showing the software in action. The application uses code from the QEMU processor emulator, and the “About This Macintosh” screen shows the device as a Macintosh Plus. Classic Mac applications MacPaint, MacDraw, and Calculator are all shown to load and run properly, although there is currently no way to enter text. The developers hope to launch the code soon; due to Apple limitations on emulation, it is unclear whether the code will be released on its own, allowing official iPhone developers to build and run it on their own devices, or whether it will be released as a standalone application for jailbroken devices. [via BoingBoing Gadgets]

In an unusual public dispute over the current Japanese popularity of the iPhone 3G, Tokyo-based freelance writer and self-described “most famous advocate of iPhone in Japan” Nobuyuki Hayashi has taken Wired to task for republishing his eight-month old quote on the topic—originally rendered before the launch of the device—as evidence of Japan’s supposed “hate” for the iPhone. Hayashi, who has written about Apple products for a number of Japanese and international publications, used the situation as a springboard to disagree with Wired’s article, and share a wide variety of interesting observations about the iPhone 3G’s successes and problems in Japan, including:

• Initial skepticism from certain newspapers, including the Sankei Shimbun, has evolved into more positive coverage with the growth of the App Store.

• While projected Japanese sales of the iPhone 3G are in the 300,000 - 400,000 range, lower than apparently inaccurate sales targets that were circulated last year, poor overall Japanese cell phone sales in 2008 would place the iPhone’s Japanese sales at or above Apple’s targeted global 1% level for the year.

• Apple responses to Japanese complaints about the device have been addressed by the company, including the addition of Emoji icons and the sale of a battery-aided TV tuner, with pricing issues addressed this week in a campaign that has seen lines forming to purchase iPhones.

• One remaining issue, the iPhone 3G’s inability to serve as a digital credit card for making purchases, has not been addressed by Apple, though some iPhone users have developed workarounds known throughout the Japanese community.

• Softbank, Apple’s sole service partner for the iPhone in Japan, has recently won awards for its TV advertisements, but has done comparatively little to promote the iPhone due to Apple approvals required for marketing purposes. Consequently, the majority of Japanese consumers remain unfamiliar with the device, though they warm quickly to it when they’re given the opportunity to actually use one.

• Softbank lags modestly behind competitors NTT DoCoMo and KDDI in network coverage and frequency options, and has struggled with domestic media perceptions about its viability, reasons that Apple might need to expand its partnerships in the country.

Rather than constraining his artwork to the 3.5” size of his iPhone’s screen, photographer and artist Russ Croop has created extremely large sketches using the iPhone and iPod touch application NetSketch. His first large-scale work, a drawing of his living room, is the equivalent of 85.6 inches x 70.1 inches at 72 ppi, and proved so large that Croop had to enlist the help of NetSketch creator Ben Gotow to get it out of the application, following repeated crashes when trying to save it from within the app. “I felt like the guy who built a boat in his basement and couldn’t get it out because it was so big,” Croop said. Cult of Mac reports that Croop went on to create other large-scale drawings, and is even interested in getting his work into galleries. When asked what the installation would be like, Croop said, “I envision big flat screen TVs replaying the paintings (videos of them as they’re made) and iPhones attached to walls or kiosks where people could try out drawing on them.” All of Croop’s iPhone art is available for viewing on his website.

Telefónica Europe, parent company of UK iPhone carrier O2, has announced that more than one million iPhones have been sold in the country since the device’s launch on November 9, 2007. Revealing its 2008 year-end results, Telefónica also described the handset as a “best selling device,” while adding that its UK business added 499,000 fixed and mobile customers in Q4. As the announcement is focused on 2008 data, it is unclear when the one million unit mark was actually crossed. Apple sold 13.7 million iPhones in 2008.

SoftBank Mobile has announced (Translated Link) its new “iPhone for everybody” campaign, in which it is offering new customers a free 8GB iPhone 3G with a two year contract. The free handset is available with three different plans, including standard, premium, and student, which range in price from 490 Yen (roughly $5) to 1,960 Yen (~$20) a month. The carrier is also dropping the price on its standard monthly data plan from 5985 Yen (~$61) to 4410 Yen (~$45). In addition, it is offering customers who choose the 16GB model a payment plan of 480 Yen (~$4.93) a month over the course of the 24 month contract, for a total of 11,520 Yen (~$118). The promotion is scheduled to run from Friday, February 27 through May 31. [via AppleInsider]

Best Buy is currently running a promotion in which members of its Rewards Zone program are able to purchase an iPhone 3G at a discount of up to $100. The offer is limited to customers who were members of the program as of February 21. Regular members are eligible for a $50 discount, bringing the prices for the 8GB and 16GB models to $149 and $249, respectively, while Premier Silver members—those who spent $2,500 or more at the retailer in the last calendar year—receive a $100 discount. The offer is good through February 28.

A hidden dialog box in Apple’s recently released iPhoto ‘09 software suggests the company may be planning to use the iPhone 3G’s GPS to assist users in geotagging their non-iPhone photos. TidBITS reports that an unused dialog box contains text “Activate the location application on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Once selected, any available location information will be transferred to your iPhoto library and associated with the photos in the selected event(s).” Elsewhere, a separate string states, “Select an iPhone or iPod Touch from your list of named devices. Once selected, the appropriate information will be transferred to your iPhoto library and associated with the photos in the selected event(s).”

While further specifics are currently unknown, it appears that users would need to run a program on their iPhone or iPod touch that would log location data as they traveled, then sync with iPhoto ‘09 to geotag photos taken with any camera that does not support geotagging natively. The report suggests that the data might also be used to create more accurate maps, showing the route taken between shots. It is unclear how the feature would work with the original iPhone or iPod touch units, which lack GPS support, whether the application would be allowed to run in the background, and what the drain on battery life may be; the presence of a reference to iPod touch is especially unusual as the device’s Wi-Fi functionality is its only tool for vaguely estimating locations. As with any unannounced feature, Apple may also choose not to implement the idea. [via Infinite Loop]